Running Bear's January 2025 Coffee Shop

[troyphoto]

OK Conrail peeps!

A question for you. In Elkhart Indiana, back in the 60s-80s there was a factory named Whitehall, where they made Anacin, Advil, and that family of products. A lot of powdered chemicals went through there. My father was prez of the local OCAW workers union in the plant for several years. (Their owners opened a new plant in Puerto Rico after Reagan opened that up for tax breaks, and closed the Elkhart facility).

Since Dad worked there, I'm trying to remember if it was rail served by the local coming out of the Elkhart yard. There's a single line coming of of Michigan almost right behind the plant, but Google Maps isn't showing any active spurs in the area. And I don't remember if Dad ever said anything about rail service to bring in their raw ingredients.

 

[roadbear]

Troy looks like there were 2 tracks between the main building and the boiler house looks like from the east like you say from elkhart yard

https://digital.library.in.gov/Record/ISL_p16066coll63-1748

you can zoom in and see the two tracks with a couple boxcars

https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16066coll63/id/1748

 

[bnsf971]

OK Conrail peeps!

A question for you. In Elkhart Indiana, back in the 60s-80s there was a factory named Whitehall, where they made Anacin, Advil, and that family of products. A lot of powdered chemicals went through there. My father was prez of the local OCAW workers union in the plant for several years. (Their owners opened a new plant in Puerto Rico(politics removed) and closed the Elkhart facility).

Since Dad worked there, I'm trying to remember if it was rail served by the local coming out of the Elkhart yard. There's a single line coming of of Michigan almost right behind the plant, but Google Maps isn't showing any active spurs in the area. And I don't remember if Dad ever said anything about rail service to bring in their raw ingredients.

From what I remember of medications like Anacin, which was aspirin, the raw ingredient came from tree bark. I'm not sure how much of that would have/could have been shipped by rail. Advil uses completely different raw materials to produce, are you sure they would have been produced in the same building/factory? In the 60s, companies were actively trying to ship by anything other than rail, which kept getting worse and worse, so they were probably shipping by truck as much as possible.

 

[roadbear]

Here's history of Whitehall and as for Anacin it was produced in Chicago

https://www.whitehallmfg.com/history

and Anacin in Chicago since 1916

https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/single-post/anacin-company/

 

[troyphoto]

Here's history of Whitehall and as for Anacin it was produced in Chicago

https://www.whitehallmfg.com/history

and Anacin in Chicago since 1916

https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/single-post/anacin-company/

And in Elkhart

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/11/29/who-pays-the-price-when-a-plant-closes-workers-towns-fight-uphill-battle-to-regain-jobs-factories/

It appears I misremembered the name: Whitehall Labs, a division of American Home Products. Our AI overlords condensed the AHP history for me:

 

[troyphoto]

Troy looks like there were 2 tracks between the main building and the boiler house looks like from the east like you say from elkhart yard

https://digital.library.in.gov/Record/ISL_p16066coll63-1748

you can zoom in and see the two tracks with a couple boxcars

Thanks!

From what I remember of medications like Anacin, which was aspirin, the raw ingredient came from tree bark. I'm not sure how much of that would have/could have been shipped by rail. Advil uses completely different raw materials to produce, are you sure they would have been produced in the same building/factory? In the 60s, companies were actively trying to ship by anything other than rail, which kept getting worse and worse, so they were probably shipping by truck as much as possible.

Willow bark is the predecessor to aspirin. I know that because of writing my books.

For whitehall labs, It would have been processed out of the raw bark before arriving there. Their equipment mixed the powders and other ingredients, and pressed them into pill form.

The plant also produced Advil, Prep H, Denorex: a dandruff shampoo in a green bottle, and a few other products.

 

[roadbear]

And in Elkhart

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/11/29/who-pays-the-price-when-a-plant-closes-workers-towns-fight-uphill-battle-to-regain-jobs-factories/

View attachment 209981


It appears I misremembered the name: Whitehall Labs, a division of American Home Products. Our AI overlords condensed the AHP history for me:

View attachment 209982

Troy yep I found that same info It looks like there were two different Whitehall companies
Whitehall Manufacturing and Whitehall Labs two different locations in Elkhart

 

[Boris]

OK Conrail peeps!

A question for you. In Elkhart Indiana, back in the 60s-80s there was a factory named Whitehall, where they made Anacin, Advil, and that family of products. A lot of powdered chemicals went through there. My father was prez of the local OCAW workers union in the plant for several years. (Their owners opened a new plant in Puerto Rico after Reagan opened that up for tax breaks, and closed the Elkhart facility).

Since Dad worked there, I'm trying to remember if it was rail served by the local coming out of the Elkhart yard. There's a single line coming of of Michigan almost right behind the plant, but Google Maps isn't showing any active spurs in the area. And I don't remember if Dad ever said anything about rail service to bring in their raw ingredients.

While I'm totally not familiar with operations in Elkhart, a generic answer is that if the rail service line was Conrail, the plant would be served by one or more crews out of Elkhart. Either a Yard crew or a Road Local /Traveling Switcher if it was on road territory. Closest serving yard applies. Terminal Zone 30 miles from central serving yard.

 

[troyphoto]

While I'm totally not familiar with operations in Elkhart, a generic answer is that if the rail service line was Conrail, the plant would be served by one or more crews out of Elkhart. Either a Yard crew or a Road Local /Traveling Switcher if it was on road territory. Closest serving yard applies. Terminal Zone 30 miles from central serving yard.

Since Elkhart has a major yard, I'd guess the yard crew from there.
That area also had a Bayer Aspirin factory (South Bend/Mishawaka IN), so powdered chemicals were in high demand in the area. I can see the potential for a lot of rail or truck traffic in the two cities.

 

[TLOC]

TLOC - Don't sweat the bone density test. Takes longer to do the paperwork than the actual test. Good idea. Better than breaking a hip or something. Looking at the trailer on that 18-wheeler. I think it says Freuhof as the manufacturer, but the design for the prototype was Strick Trailer. Freuhof bought Strick and then sold it back to members of the family. The clue is the three closely-spaced ribs over the 5th wheel. My late FIL was one of the founders of the company. Neat layout!

Thanks. The bone density test was a breeze. My issue with tests are I can’t lay flat on my back for too long a time. I handled this easily enough. After doing the hips and the feet she had to do the arm as an added bonus. She said that means I don’t need to return after the radiologist looks at the results and says the discrepancy between the feet and the hips is to great. She also said I was lucky getting a cancellation. Normal lead time for bone density in the UWHealth system is 286 days but mine at 23 hours will help the average a tiny bit.

 

[AirbrushNo5]

Couple pics from San Antonio TX…
I was staying downtown listening to trains multiple times per day…

UP action…

 

[kbkchooch]

 

[TrucTrain55]

View attachment 210006

Not yet

 

[NorthBrit]

View attachment 210006

Snoopy come over here. There is no snow.

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good morning! It's 21°F in Tipton.

 

[NorthBrit]

Good morning all. Storm Eowyn came and went. No more than a windy day.
The sun is shining. Maybe the temperature will get warmer.
A large coffee please, Flo. I see you have blueberry muffins there again. I'll have one.

Daughter & SiLs flight was cancelled because of Storm Eowyn. Hopefully they should now be at Heathrow for their flight to Toronto.

Been away from the train room for some time, I managed some time there. It was more tidying it up somewhat as things were put in the room 'out of the way'.

Hopefully I shall be in the train room again this afternoon.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's clear and 29.

 

[migalyto]

Snoopy come over here. There is no snow.

Id say we would send you some, but we haven't had any to speak of ourselves.

Florida got it all!

 

[migalyto]

Good morning all!

Currently 20F heading up to 38F. Looks like the Polar vortex has finally moved out of the area.

Have a volleyball tournament all day so my Saturday is shot! We have the first game this morning. No sleeping in for us.

Have a safe day everyone!

 

[bnsf971]

I finally caved this morning and turned the furnace on, for the first time since I’ve returned to Florida. Not that it hasn’t been cold enough to run the heat, but the place I live includes an amount of electricity in the rent. I generally use the built-in electric fireplace for heat, and it works well down to about 40. Below that, and it needs help to maintain a comfortable temp. Since LP costs money to refill, and the electric is included, it makes financial sense to use what I’ve already paid for, rather than pay twice.
Anyway, the furnace ran for about 30 minutes, and it’s now a comfortable 68 inside. This should be the last of the “regionally cold” temps, and return to normal for here starting tomorrow.